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Editor's Note: A photo of the school is available at: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/jpreussdedication.htm

PREUSS SCHOOL CAMPUS TO BE DEDICATED AT CEREMONIES SCHEDULED OCT. 10 AT UCSD

Two young Preuss School students will join the President of the University of California and other dignitaries on the speakers' platform as the new Preuss School campus at the University of California, San Diego, is dedicated Oct. 10.

Appearing as speakers at the 9:45 a.m. ceremony in the school's amphitheatre will be UC President Richard C. Atkinson; Doris Alvarez, Preuss School principal; UCSD Chancellor Robert C. Dynes; Vice Chancellor James Langley; State Senator Dede Alpert; Alan Bersin, superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District; Peggy and Peter Preuss, donors, and Cecil Lytle, provost of Thurgood Marshall College.

Ninth grader Veronica Radnoty of University City and Emmanuel Leon, 7th grade, from the South County, will represent their 430 Preuss School colleagues as speakers and present their school's "Spirit of Preuss" community awards to Chancellor Dynes, Provost Lytle, and Mr. and Mrs. Preuss. The Preusses also will receive UCSD's "Civis Universitatis" award from Chancellor Dynes and Duane Roth, vice chair of the UC San Diego Foundation.

Fifty of the Preuss School students will attend the ceremony with some 250 other invited guests, while the remainder of the student body will view the rites from closed circuit TV monitors in their classrooms.

At the close of the dedication guests will move to Lytle Grove for a brunch reception. Tours of the school will follow.

Completed just 17 months since groundbreaking, the $13.1 million campus consists of five two-story classroom wings, administrative and library buildings, a multipurpose center and an expansive sports field. It is located on the east UCSD campus, adjacent to Genesee Ave.

The campus is centered around an outdoor amphitheatre, designed to accommodate the entire student body for assemblies and performances. One of the five classroom wings is dedicated to state-of-the-art science laboratories, outfitted with lab benches, equipment and fume hoods. The classroom wings, all wired for extensive computer use, are interconnected by covered walkways and overhead steel trellises.

The school opened its doors at UCSD in the fall of 1999 in temporary quarters on the Thurgood Marshall College grounds. The 150 sixth, seventh and eight grade students selected by lottery from 503 applicants set precedent as attendees at the only public charter school in the state to be established on a university campus with private donations and capital. The school is named in recognition of a $5 million gift made by the Preusses.

This year's 431 enrollment includes 125 sixth grade students, 130 seventh graders, 88 eighth graders and 88 ninth graders. The majority come from the San Diego Unified School District, but there also are representatives from Poway, Mira Mesa, San Ysidro and Linda Vista. At steady state, in the year 2003, the school will accommodate 700 sixth through 12th graders. A total 22 teachers are assisted by UCSD faculty members and students who serve as tutors, interns and mentors.

Mission of the Preuss School is to prepare low income and educationally underserved students from admission to and graduation from a university. All students will take four years of mathematics, laboratory sciences and English, three years of a foreign language and fine arts and two years of history. New to the curriculum this year are classes in community service and music appreciation.

The school has a longer school day, longer class periods, and a longer school year than is traditional. Classes range from 20 to a maximum 25 students.